Park life The local authority penalty charge, which this proposal mirrors, is unworkable. Councils have been calling for their penalty charges to be revised upwards because they are no longer a deterrent dont work. They are no longer a deterrent to people who cheat and ignore the rules that are there for everyones benefit. They encourage selfish parking, as witnessed at our tourist destinations last year (see pages 14-18). It was carmageddon. In other news One of Mr Jenricks predecessors got himself in a pickle over parking with more ANPR than you can imagine that stands for anecdotes, niceties, posturing and rhetoric. By the way, Eric Pickles led the 2015 decision to restrict the use of automatic number plate recognition for enforcement by local authorities. I was beginning to think this government would be more likely to listen to reason, especially when it announced Gear Change to promote cycling and walking, alongside enabling local authorities to manage moving traffic contraventions, plus increasing support for bus priorities and public transport generally. A whole new meaning for ANPR are new possibilities real? But just as you think you are getting somewhere, after many years of planning and partnership working with government, actual ANPR is reconfirmed as enemy number one. We welcome the introduction of improved accreditation and auditing for private parking companies and their trade associations; we welcome the establishment of a Scrutiny and Oversight Board, including industry representation to ensure the scheme is effective and fair; we welcome the introduction of differential charging for more serious contraventions, including the higher charges for misuse of disabled parking spaces and for parking where it is unwanted or not permitted, which received overwhelming support from the public who responded to MHCLGs consultation. And, finally, we welcome the recognition that parking charges should be higher in London than elsewhere, but why not extend this to all our major cities that share similar parking problems? all this has been built into our own code of practice for years. Minsters speak of fairness. So do we. Four out of five motorists have never had a parking ticket in their life. They may well end up paying more to park in the first place to provide enough money in the system to pay for all the benefits that this Act was promising because those that break the rules will now be charged less. How is that fair? The government must rethink its proposals for the economic model being proposed. Otherwise, its not just the parking sector that will be crying Mayday! It will also be Britains retailers, residents and resorts as we see a return to car-mageddon. For more on the MHCLGs consultation response, see pages 8-9 and 32-33, and also go to britishparking-media.co.uk/news * See bit.ly/PNMay21Portas Kelvin Reynolds Director of corporate and public affairs kelvin.r@britishparking.co.uk Is it fair? Sadly, true to form, we see the government reverting to the anecdotes, niceties, posturing and rhetoric as it now talks about parking cowboys, claims the credit for the introduction of 10-minute grace periods and more leniency for minor mistakes such as keying errors, when We welcome the introduction of improved accreditation and auditing for private parking companies and their trade associations 48 britishparking.co.uk PN May 2021 pp47-48 Kelvin.indd 48 22/04/2021 16:27